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[scosher]

I played through the game three times with a 135h melee character too, and I found this helps a great deal to pretty much perfect backstabs. I made my Plat with this character. Test it for yourself and see how well it works.

Could just be that you're both right, and the real trick to perfecting backstabs is to stop strafing left/right once you get behind the enemy. Whether that means leaving the analog stick on neutral for a split second or pushing forward, either way gets you to stop strafing.

 

[jorgeton]

OMG lost izalith is TERRIBLE. even with the shortcut all you are doing is running around in an orange haze..constantly healing trying to work out where to go being stomped by massive dinosaurs. how is this supposed to be good level design? it doesnt make sense! now i know why everyone is bitching about it.

It wasn't so bad once I realized the dinosaurs can hurt each other and

Spoiler

don't respawn when killed!

It was actually kind of fun to trick them into taking each other out. The boss at the end almost had me break my dualshock in half though. Not because she was especially tough, but because defeating her

Spoiler

hinged on whether I could make a small jump onto the branch in front of her. I kept missing the landing by centimeters. Ughhh. Annoying!

My least favorite part in the game has to be New Londo, just because you need to be cursed to hit those ghosts. I've pretty much tackled everything else except that damned place.

 

[Zzoram]

lol in NG+ the asylum demon died instantly to crystal homing soul mass just as he landed

 

[sixghost]

Could just be that you're both right, and the real trick to perfecting backstabs is to stop strafing left/right once you get behind the enemy. Whether that means leaving the analog stick on neutral for a split second or pushing forward, either way gets you to stop strafing.

Yep. Letting the left stick go neutral just ensures that you don't strafe past the 30 degree or so arc that triggers backstabs.

I thought he said that the left stick MUST be neutral to get a backstab, so I just relayed my experiences.

edit

Just a general tip here, because most people don't understand how backstabs work RIGHT in Dark Souls:

Your left analog stick MUST be in neutral position for backstabs to work. The way you do this is get behind an enemy, let go of the analog stick and then execute the backstab. As soon as you are still moving in a direction with left analoge stick the backstab won't come out.

This was the original post, it's just not true.

 

[maomaoIYP]

Stick doesn't need to be neutral to riposte nor backstab. I always do mine with the stick towards the enemy.

 

[Moofers]

Question about Lost Izalith:

Spoiler

What do you do after killing the lava centipede boss? The one where you have the bonfire right after where you find the sun knight sitting down next to it? I've equipped the orange ring that reduces lava damage, but the room ahead just seems to have like a million of those fucking T-rex things out there and not much else. Does that area lead to anywhere, or does it just exist to house one of the most annoying sections in the game?

 

[orion434]

Wait until you see how much damage Crystal Homing Soul Mass does with 50 INT. It's CRAZY how powerful sorcery is in these games. The thing I hate most about Dark Souls is the weapon scaling. There are all these ridiculously cool melee weapons that SHOULD scale with your STR and be as comparable to the kind of damage you can do as a mage, but it doesn't work like that. Hopefully the patch fixes this like they said they were going to do.

In the end I want to see what Homing Crystal Soulmass will do with the Tin Crystallization Catalyst + Crown of Dusk + Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring and > 50 INT.

Are there any other rings / armor that increases magic? The Antiquated Dress doesn't contrary to what the guide says.

 

[soldat7]

Not having too much trouble with a melee-heavy character and a long bow. I consider magic and miracles to be unclean.

 

[sixghost]

Question about Lost Izalith:

Spoiler

What do you do after killing the lava centipede boss? The one where you have the bonfire right after where you find the sun knight sitting down next to it? I've equipped the orange ring that reduces lava damage, but the room ahead just seems to have like a million of those fucking T-rex things out there and not much else. Does that area lead to anywhere, or does it just exist to house one of the most annoying sections in the game?

It leads to the one of the 4 lord souls. You only need to kill 7-8 of those T-rexes to get through, since they don't respawn. There is a bonfire behind a illusory wall in the 2nd building.

If you have 30 humanity to give to the Chaos Servant covenant, there's a nice shortcut that will skip the entire T-rex area.

Not having too much trouble with a melee-heavy character and a long bow. I consider magic and miracles to be unclean.

Do Bows ever scale to a point where they become effective damage options?

 

[maomaoIYP]

Do Bows ever scale to a point where they become effective damage options?

Not in my experience. Effective damage for standing far away and shooting safely without having to rely on 200 arrows for a kill, yes. But never to the point where it will out do a melee weapon.
Avelyn, on the other hand, can be useful in PvP.

 

[Rektash]

I just tested the backstab thing for a bit. No matter how perfect your positioning is, as long as you are strafing left or right the backstab won't trigger (maybe there is a threshold which regulates the speed at which are allowed to strafe and still activate backstab?). It may be that it also works when you go towards the backside of your enemy, even though I found it a lot easier to just go into neutral.

 

[scy]

Do Bows ever scale to a point where they become effective damage options?

50 Faith Occult+5 Bow of Pharis (S-scaling) and I'll be damned if it equals a single melee swing in the time it takes what I'm sniping to reach me :/

I just tested the backstab thing for a bit. No matter how perfect your positioning is, as long as you are strafing left or right the backstab won't trigger.

I always strafe into my backstabs, as far as I'm aware; I mean, I could be letting it go but I'm pretty sure I just pivot around to right behind and hit R1 in a fluid motion.

 

[Rektash]

I always strafe into my backstabs, as far as I'm aware; I mean, I could be letting it go but I'm pretty sure I just pivot around to right behind and hit R1 in a fluid motion.

I edited the threshold part in while you were replying. Test it with max speed strafing around enemies. Your backstab won't trigger.

 

[tokkun]

How? its so easy to dodge if you know what you are doing. with the fog ring you cant see shit, you cant lock on therefore its hard to use a shield and back away...all of a sudden - backstab. If you have a decent shield you block the spell easily.

1. Sorceror's already have a spell that does the same thing as Fog Ring without wasting a valuable ring slot. And many of them use it in combo with homing soul mass.

2. The damage of spells is unbalanced compared to melee in high level play.

3. Even if you block the spell with a "decent shield" it's likely to take off 20% or more of your life. And if you happen to be wearing a melee-focused shield it could be 50%+.

4. Homing soul mass may not be that difficult to dodge on its own, but most sorcerors will use it and then turtle at a choke point like a door, passageway, or narrow ledge.

The difference is, the fog ring was designed for cheapness...the spell is actually useful in one player as well.

Fog Ring is extremely useful in PvE, particularly in the most annoying levels like Blighttown and the Anor Londo archer segment.

 

[nyong]

I'm sure this has already been asked, but is the multiplayer cross-platform? So can PS3 users play with 360 users?

I'm debating which system to pick it up for. Seeing as the 360 version wasn't released in Japan, I don't want to gimp myself for long-term MP support...

 

[Misterinenja]

OMG lost izalith is TERRIBLE. even with the shortcut all you are doing is running around in an orange haze..constantly healing trying to work out where to go being stomped by massive dinosaurs. how is this supposed to be good level design? it doesnt make sense! now i know why everyone is bitching about it.

If you're using the Chaos covenant shortcut and running in Lava without lava resistance ring you're doing it WRONG!

 

[deim0s]

Izalith, thank god those leg monsters won't respawn.

strutting along, taking care in exploring, a pyro appears, dispatched her and Kirk as well. Then facing a titanite demon on the bridge, magically the game stutters on the time I'm about to roll back... When the connection normalizes, I was gutted. :/

 

[Phat Michael]

so everyones dead. before i feed the lord souls to the big snake dude...i have the souls of smough, priscilla and quite a few other bosses. should i use them now or will they be with me to NG+?

I also got the chaos ember..should i make everything before i head to the last part?

 

[Phat Michael]

If you're using the Chaos covenant shortcut and running in Lava without lava resistance ring you're doing it WRONG!

i got the ring, and i used the shortcut. its over now.

 

[Lord_Nergal]

so everyones dead. before i feed the lord souls to the big snake dude...i have the souls of smough, priscilla and quite a few other bosses. should i use them now or will they be with me to NG+?

I also got the chaos ember..should i make everything before i head to the last part?

The boss souls will carry over.

I recommend upgrading your weapons before you head into NG+, I can't get any more red titanite chunks until I get to the Kiln again.

 

[Sullichin]

any good dark souls podcasts (heard the first game informer one), twitter accounts to follow, anything like that? anything to hear about this game while i'm at work O_O

 

[Akuun]

Goddamnit I

Spoiler

killed Priscilla before her tail came off. I kept hitting her, hoping she'll reveal herself and then she just died.

That was such a depressing encounter. I feel bad in a Shadow of the Colossus way.

 

[Lord_Nergal]

any good dark souls podcasts (heard the first game informer one), twitter accounts to follow, anything like that? anything to hear about this game while i'm at work O_O

@JimReilly is obsessed with both Demons and Dark Souls, but all he does is tweet about people sniffing the game manuals.

 

[Defuser]

so everyones dead. before i feed the lord souls to the big snake dude...i have the souls of smough, priscilla and quite a few other bosses. should i use them now or will they be with me to NG+?

I also got the chaos ember..should i make everything before i head to the last part?

1)Yes,they will carry over.
2)Do as you like but remember,ember's do not carry over to NG+ meaning you have to find them again. What I can suggest is you ascend the weapons first,that way you can upgrade to the max without the need of embers unless you want to ascend a new weapon.

 

[vilmer_]

I've completed everything and took a shot at the final boss just to see what the fight is going to be like. I still haven't beat the beautiful princess that is the Painted World boss so I think I'll do that. I also want to check over other levels where I may have missed a drop or two and upgrade my go to weapons and armor. Normally I'm not a fan of DLC/paid expansions but if there ever was a game that I would like to see it, it's Dark Souls.

 

[Lord_Nergal]

Goddamnit I

Spoiler

killed Priscilla before her tail came off. I kept hitting her, hoping she'll reveal herself and then she just died.

That was such a depressing encounter. I feel bad in a Shadow of the Colossus way.

Spoiler

Get your strongest weapon next time and smack her tail first. A good weapons to use after you initiate your fight is a spinning weapon like the crystal halberd you get in Anor Londo.

 

[scosher]

so everyones dead. before i feed the lord souls to the big snake dude...i have the souls of smough, priscilla and quite a few other bosses. should i use them now or will they be with me to NG+?

I also got the chaos ember..should i make everything before i head to the last part?

Yes, use them now. You will lose any embers in NG+, so make your weapons now.

Also, spend time farming chunks from the respawning black knights cause it's easily the best farming spot, but only available at the end of the game. Slab farming is not worth it really imo, and better to just collect the new guaranteed slabs in a NG+.

Other things to do before a NG+:

- Kindle all bonfires
- Kill NPC's you no longer need as they tend to drop humanity and sometimes firekeeper's souls.
- Farm large titanite shards/green shards from sewer slugs and titanite chunks from black knights and upgrade your weapons if you're going for the trophies. Makes NG+ only about collecting slabs/rare weapons and you can breeze through it without having to farm again (cept rare weapons/armors).

 

[Phat Michael]

1)Yes,they will carry over.
2)Do as you like but remember,ember's do not carry over to NG+ meaning you have to find them again. What I can suggest is you ascend the weapons first,that way you can upgrade to the max without the need of embers unless you want to ascend a new weapon.

cheers to you and the guy above. thanks. So basically embers/shards and all that wont be with me but the boss souls will? or just the divine/magic/fire embers etc? ill just upgrade everything but im pretty happy with my Magic Halberd +10...its absolutely lethal. itll be even better once they fix the scaling.

i was one shotting all those taurus demons and capra demons with any of my spells i used as well..esp homing soul arrow/soul spear etc.

 

[maomaoIYP]

1. Sorceror's already have a spell that does the same thing as Fog Ring without wasting a valuable ring slot. And many of them use it in combo with homing soul mass.

No it doesn't do the same thing. And it last for like 30s. If you consider players of equal SL, a sorc who's capable of one shotting with homing crystal soulmass is likely to be fragile like a glass flower. A melee character needs to play smart or skilfully and magic isn't going to be a real problem. I just had a fight with a melee dude using a greatsword. He kept rolling around, I casted homing crystal soul mass at least 8 times and never got a hit. Then he swiped me twice with his sword and I was dead.

 

[Phat Michael]

Yes, use them now. You will lose any embers in NG+, so make your weapons now.

Also, spend time farming chunks from the respawning black knights cause it's easily the best farming spot, but only available at the end of the game. Slab farming is not worth it really imo, and better to just collect the new guaranteed slabs in a NG+.

Other things to do before a NG+:

- Kindle all bonfires
- Kill NPC's you no longer need as they tend to drop humanity and sometimes firekeeper's souls.
- Farm large titanite shards/green shards from sewer slugs and titanite chunks from black knights and upgrade your weapons if you're going for the trophies. Makes NG+ only about collecting slabs/rare weapons and you can breeze through it without having to farm again (cept rare weapons/armors).

sweet thanks man. ill kindle whatever i can and kill everyone then lol. does that include the blacksmiths as well after ive upgraded everything?

 

[mrklaw]

The boss souls will carry over.

I recommend upgrading your weapons before you head into NG+, I can't get any more red titanite chunks until I get to the Kiln again.

what boss weapons are recommended, and which souls can you just eat?

I have the furysword, lightning spear, and I nearly have my spider shield at +10 for the butterfly ring shield thing. I'm a dex character (wanderer) with a dab of pyromancy, so I can't really use anything heavy.

 

[Defuser]

cheers to you and the guy above. thanks. So basically embers/shards and all that wont be with me but the boss souls will? or just the divine/magic/fire embers etc? ill just upgrade everything but im pretty happy with my Magic Halberd +10...its absolutely lethal. itll be even better once they fix the scaling.

i was one shotting all those taurus demons and capra demons with any of my spells i used as well..esp homing soul arrow/soul spear etc.

Only embers,shards and chunks can be carried over. and trust me,your magic halberd won't be saving your ass when you meet tough enemies in ng+.

 

[scosher]

cheers to you and the guy above. thanks. So basically embers/shards and all that wont be with me but the boss souls will? or just the divine/magic/fire embers etc? ill just upgrade everything but im pretty happy with my Magic Halberd +10...its absolutely lethal. itll be even better once they fix the scaling.

i was one shotting all those taurus demons and capra demons with any of my spells i used as well..esp homing soul arrow/soul spear etc.

Just embers. If you notice, embers are actually in the Key section of your inventory, not the shards/mats category. You essentially lose all your keys in a new game plus, except the master's key, so that includes embers.

 

[Lord_Nergal]

what boss weapons are recommended, and which souls can you just eat?

I have the furysword, lightning spear, and I nearly have my spider shield at +10 for the butterfly ring shield thing. I'm a dex character (wanderer) with a dab of pyromancy, so I can't really use anything heavy.

Uhhh, I'm a heavy melee build guy, so I'm not really using boss soul weapons at this point. Only one I've really toyed with is Greatsword of Artorias.

Sorry bud.

 

[Zzoram]

NG+ is a breeze so far, magic ezpz

still 1 shotting enemies and 3 shotting bosses

 

[Phat Michael]

In the end I want to see what Homing Crystal Soulmass will do with the Tin Crystallization Catalyst + Crown of Dusk + Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring and > 50 INT.

Are there any other rings / armor that increases magic? The Antiquated Dress doesn't contrary to what the guide says.

well its not the same..but i have 99 INT, bellowing dragoncrest ring and logans catalyst and the crystal soulmass was doing about 1200 damage ...

 

[Phat Michael]

Only embers,shards and chunks can be carried over. and trust me,your magic halberd won't be saving your ass when you meet tough enemies in ng+.

if it scales with magic i will....even now without the "proper" scaling its doing way more damage than the queelaags fury sword, lightning spear or lightning estoc.

 

[BackdoorBeauty]

It wasn't so bad once I realized the dinosaurs can hurt each other and

Spoiler

don't respawn when killed!

It was actually kind of fun to trick them into taking each other out. The boss at the end almost had me break my dualshock in half though. Not because she was especially tough, but because defeating her

Spoiler

hinged on whether I could make a small jump onto the branch in front of her. I kept missing the landing by centimeters. Ughhh. Annoying!

Spoiler

Spoiler

The dinobots were a pain until you can manage to get into one of the buildings. Then you can have them stomp on eachother and what-not. Also, Avelyn +10 was doing 240 damage per shot to them. I love that weapon.. I even got it on my own, I had no idea it even existed from the Wiki.

 

[Sullichin]

if it scales with magic i will....even now without the "proper" scaling its doing way more damage than the queelaags fury sword, lightning spear or lightning estoc.

What's your right hand weapon stat say in the menu? I think my lighting scythe +5 is ~610.

 

[scy]

I think people are slightly misunderstanding the scaling problem; it's not that they don't scale, but that the Elemental Weapons get to just as high values (or higher!) but with no stat associated to them. Magic and Enchanted scale rather fine (A-scaling Enchanted should beat out Lightning Weapons at 50 INT mark in terms of raw split damage power pre-resistances).

STR/DEX do lack a bit, though ... but I suppose they're "supposed" to make up for it with weapon imbues ... but nobody really goes a STR or DEX build and plans for 25 INT for CMW.

Incidentally, Magic scales worse than Enchanted unless it takes off somewhere in the 70+ region for some bizarre reason.

 

[johntown]

I think people are slightly misunderstanding the scaling problem; it's not that they don't scale, but that the Elemental Weapons get to just as high values (or higher!) but with no stat associated to them. Magic and Enchanted scale rather fine (A-scaling Enchanted should beat out Lightning Weapons at 50 INT mark in terms of raw split damage power pre-resistances).

STR/DEX do lack a bit, though ... but I suppose they're "supposed" to make up for it with weapon imbues ... but nobody really goes a STR or DEX build and plans for 25 INT for CMW.

Incidentally, Magic scales worse than Enchanted unless it takes off somewhere in the 70+ region for some bizarre reason.

I thought Enchanted lowered the base damage of the weapon though? If that is the case Magic would be better for someone who uses a weapon with a high base damage stat.

 

[DigitalDevil]

bought 500 poison arrows last night. Feelsgoodman. I'll head back to the great hollow this evening and try and get some of those damn lizards!

 

[scosher]

if it scales with magic i will....even now without the "proper" scaling its doing way more damage than the queelaags fury sword, lightning spear or lightning estoc.

Well that's also cause it's a halberd, so as a slower weapon, it has higher base damage than those. Did you try a Lightning Halberd to compare?

 

[scy]

I thought Enchanted lowered the base damage of the weapon though? If that is the case Magic would be better for someone who uses a weapon with a high base damage stat.

The scaling makes up for it at the 40-50 mark where Magic stops scaling (or slows down to roughly half a stat sheet damage point per INT). I haven't tried every single Magic vs Enchanted option but I use a variety of slow weapons (Claymore, Halberd, Great Scythe) and haven't noticed Magic beating out Enchanted.

I may try it out some if I ever get a ton of Blue Slabs :/

 

[Phat Michael]

What's your right hand weapon stat say in the menu? I think my lighting scythe +5 is ~610.

not sure man ill check later....my lightning weapons arent ascended that high tho (only +3 on my estoc)

 

[Soulhouf]

I think people are slightly misunderstanding the scaling problem; it's not that they don't scale, but that the Elemental Weapons get to just as high values (or higher!) but with no stat associated to them. Magic and Enchanted scale rather fine (A-scaling Enchanted should beat out Lightning Weapons at 50 INT mark in terms of raw split damage power pre-resistances).

STR/DEX do lack a bit, though ... but I suppose they're "supposed" to make up for it with weapon imbues ... but nobody really goes a STR or DEX build and plans for 25 INT for CMW.

Incidentally, Magic scales worse than Enchanted unless it takes off somewhere in the 70+ region for some bizarre reason.

The problem is that the game does not reward spending points in STR/DEX.
What they need to do is increase STR/DEX scaling to fix that.

 

[Phat Michael]

Well that's also cause it's a halberd, so as a slower weapon, it has higher base damage than those. Did you try a Lightning Halberd to compare?

Nah havent man. i tried the lightning spear (standard) and it wasnt close. i wish magic weapons made a cool sound or had an explosion of sparks light the lightning ones do.

 

[vilmer_]

I wonder if they are going to do anything special for Halloween today. Not getting my hopes up :/

 

[johntown]

The scaling makes up for it at the 40-50 mark where Magic stops scaling (or slows down to roughly half a stat sheet damage point per INT). I haven't tried every single Magic vs Enchanted option but I use a variety of slow weapons (Claymore, Halberd, Great Scythe) and haven't noticed Magic beating out Enchanted.

I may try it out some if I ever get a ton of Blue Slabs :/

Well, I use my Magic Uchigatana+9 (will have another blue slab soon) for all PVP encounters because I like it better and it beats my Enchanted Falchion +5 on everything except the magic stat......plus is causing 300 in bleeding damage which can be nice for PVP.

 

[corrosivefrost]

NG+ is a breeze so far, magic ezpz

still 1 shotting enemies and 3 shotting bosses

Sounds about right -- you just need to be worried about bosses OHKO'ing you.
Pinwheel, of all bosses, did it to me. I had to go back there with Iron Flesh and Crystal Homing Soulmass. :lol